Please indicate before Saturday whether or not you’re playing.  Blah blah blah.

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If an offensive player unnecessarily delays putting the disc into play in violation of rule XIX.B, a defender within three meters of the spot the disc is to be put into play may issue a delay of game warning instead of calling a violation. If the behavior in violation of rule XIX.B is not immediately stopped, the marker may initiate and continue a stall count, regardless of the actions of the offense. In order to invoke this rule, after announcing “delay of game,” the marker must give the offense two seconds to react to the warning, and then announce “disc in” before initiating the stall count.

I feel like this rule is unnecessary for a pick-up game, but at least now we know how to handle it.

In the August 2010 episode of “Don’t be a tool,” some discussion followed a moment where a player (we’ll call him “Jake” <- not his real name) reached backwards about 5 feet to pick up a frisbee, established his pivot foot and caught the attention of another player (we’ll call him “Trevor” <- not his real name).

Trevor inquired as to the legality of gaining a couple of yards by virtue of reaching backwards to pick up the frisbee.  The rules seemed unclear, as they say that a pivot foot must be established at the spot on the field where the frisbee is being put in play.  We played on as if it was legal.

Later, Trevor checked in with USA Ultimate authority, Peri Kurshan, who is the current rules chair and she said:

In this case, the wrong things happened on the field and Trevor is now awarded 10 yards .

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In the July 2009 episode of “Don’t be a tool,” a discussion ensued about where to put the disc in play after a pull that rolled out through the back of the end zone.

Andy Patten successfully argued that the disc should be put in play at the goal line.  Let’s see what the rules say:

VIII.6. If the pull hits the ground or an out-of-bounds area untouched, it is put into play as follows:

b) If the disc initially hits in-bounds and then becomes out-of-bounds before being touched by the receiving team, it is put into play at the spot on the playing field proper (i.e., excluding the end zones) nearest to where it first crossed the perimeter line to become out-of-bounds.

c) If the disc initially hits in-bounds and then becomes out-of-bounds after being touched by the receiving team, it is put into play at the spot on the playing field nearest to where it first crossed the perimeter line to become out-of-bounds.

The difference between (b) and (c) is that if a “rolly” rolls through the endzone untouched, it gets put in play at the goal line.  The “field proper” is defined in III.B. as the playing field excluding the end zones.  I believe that (c) means that if the frisbee is touched then goes out of bounds, you have to play it where it goes out, including the back of the end zone since III.B distinguishes the playing field as including the end zone unless it is qualifed as the playing field proper.

In other words, the right things happened.

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In the May episode of “Don’t be a tool” it is revealed that how we played my end-zone drop was, indeed, correct (that is to say, yes, I was wrong, but didn’t mind ):

XI. Scoring

A. A goal is scored when an in-bounds player catches any legal pass in the end zone of attack, and retains possession of the disc throughout all ground contact related to the catch.

Since ground contact jarred the disc loose, my score did not count, and that is how we played it.  Well done!

On the subject of catching the throw-off when it is out of bounds, I find the following may be the most applicable guidance:

VIII. Starting and Restarting Play

6. If the pull hits the ground or an out-of-bounds area untouched, it is put into play as follows:

a) If the disc initially hits and remains in-bounds, it is put into play where it comes to rest or is stopped

(XVI.E).

b) If the disc initially hits in-bounds and then becomes out-of-bounds before being touched by the receiving team, it is put into play at the spot on the playing field proper (i.e., excluding the end zones) nearest to where it first crossed the perimeter line to become out-of-bounds.

c) If the disc initially hits in-bounds and then becomes out-of-bounds after being touched by the receiving team, it is put into play at the spot on the playing field nearest to where it first crossed the perimeter line to become out-of-bounds.

d) If the disc initially hits an out-of-bounds area, the receiving team may put the disc into play:

(1) at the spot determined by IX.H; or

(2) after signaling for a brick or middle by fully extending one hand overhead and calling “brick” or “middle” before gaining possession of the disc, either at

(a) the brick mark closest to the end zone that the receiving team is defending if “brick” was called, or

(b) the spot on the long axis of the playing field proper nearest to the spot determined by IX.H if “middle” was called.

7. If the pull is caught, the disc is put into play at the spot on the playing field nearest to where it was caught.

The above says that using the brick call is only applicable if the frisbee was untouched in the process of becoming out-of-bounds.
UPDATE:
Originally, I said: Again, this was played correctly in that I believe Trevor played the frisbee from the back of the end zone after catching it (in accordance with point #7, above).
But now, with a better understanding that the playing field actually excludes the end zone (see the July 2009 entry), I believe that Trevor was entitled to bring the frisbee up to the goal line to play from there.

Yay!